Subject: (whorl) Divine Silk and Pas - Perhaps spoiler?

From: Jonathan Dale <jdale at fla.fujitsu.com>
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 16:01:11 +0000

Hi,

Having just finished RTTW and being new to this list, the following
questions may already have been answered in the current yet-to-be-published
digest! Apologies, if so.

I was quite astounded by the end of RTTW; not so much the question of
identity regarding Horn and Silk, but more the chronology of what happens
when; Wolfe manages to masterfully obscure the precise ordering of events
until the very end (I managed to get hints by seeing when Horn/Silk
possessed the azoth).

Anyway, at the end, I had a number of questions (too many to list), but the
most important one are (which I'd like to solicit comments from the list
on):

1. When Horn/Silk meets and talks to Pig the first time aboard the Whorl,
there is a passage where the Divine Silk reveals himself in Pig. For a
moment Horn (I guess since he's newly transferred into Silk's body) is
overcome because he recognises the voice of the Patera. I guess that I was
a little confused by this because the Divine Silk sounds exactly like the
real Silk; what I can infer from this is that the Divine Silk possessed the
real Silk at some point during the Long Sun series and that is why they
share the same characteristics? Would people agree on this or am I missing
something?

2. Perhaps this is related to the first question, but who is Passilk? My
two inferences are: a) either Pas and the Divine Silk are the same and Pas
has been directing things for some time through the real Silk, or b) Pas
and Silk are two gods of mainframe 

3. What is the list of people who are (or who have been) possessed by gods
of mainframe. My list comprises (currently):

  a) Silk (Passilk)
  b) Pig (Passilk)
  c) Oreb (Scycla)
  d) Hyacynth (Krypris?)

  Any others? Once I started adding up who had been possessed by whom, the
books seemed to be much more related to the ongoing struggle of the gods of
mainframe begun in the Long Sun series.

4. Is the nature of the azoth revealed anywhere but when Horn/Silk cuts the
boat in two in RTTW? What is the speculation on this - that it is some kind
of shaped antimatter beam? Also, what's the relationship to the black blade
that the Neighbour chooses for Horn when he has to clear the sewer - is it
some strange precursor to the fact that he will one day get the azoth?

5. Given the nature of the inhumi/human symbiosis secret, I was unclear on
the exact specifics of how children were created; in one part of RTTW, the
process of inhumi mating is clearly explained and somewhere in IGJ Fava
explains about breaking out of the egg, etc., but I was unclear from where
the mind was drawn. Is it that a primal inhumi takes on the mind from the
first victim (which would explain Krait and Sinew) or is it more related to
who the parents were?

Comments appreciated.

Jonathan
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "To do nothing is a talent, one I have not got. I have known a   |
|  few people who possessed it to a superlative degree, as one of  |
|  my scribes here does. They can, if they wish, sit or even stand |
|  for hours without occupation and without thought. Their eyes    |
|  are open and they see the whorl before them, but see it only as |
|  the eyes of potatoes do."  -- On Blue's Waters, Gene Wolfe      |
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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 23:33:43 +0000

> and Silk are two gods of mainframe

IIRC, at one point in TBOTLS Kypris (or somebody) offers to upload Silk into
Mainframe, where he would become a god and be linked somehow to Pas (I
forget the details).  Evidently Silk either took her up on the offer, or was
uploaded against his will.  This happened after Horn left, which is why he
has never heard of the Divine Silk.

> first victim (which would explain Krait and Sinew) or is it more related to

The child's mind comes from one of the parent's victims; see p. 316.

--Adam